Monday, November 30, 2015

#TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Savoring Italy and runs smoothly with the help of Heather of All Roads Lead to the Kitchen, and the rest of our fabulous bakers.
This month we are baking Holiday Breads that are perfect to celebrate the holiday season. For more bread recipes, visit the #TwelveLoaves Pinterest board, or check out last month's inspiring selection of #TwelveLoaves Thanksgiving Biscuits and Rolls!

If you'd like to bake along with us this month, share your Holiday Breads using hashtag #TwelveLoaves!

The Precise Kitchen Elf's Panettone

Every year we make homemade panettone. Last year, my Precise Kitchen Elf took over the duties. It's a long process, but one he's happy to do. And I, for one, am grateful.

Step One...Candy the Citrus

I am not big on plain ol' oranges. Blood oranges,
clementines, pumelo, any other citrus and I am excited. So I shouldn't be too
surprised that when we were selecting citrus to candy for his holiday
panettone, R picked kumquats, grapefruits, limes, and a few fingers of Buddha's Hand citron. Quick note: always use organic. You're spending time and
money to eat the peels; you don't want to be consuming chemicals and
pesticides!

Slice the kumquats into quarters. Peel the grapefruit and
limes and slice into strips. Cut the Buddha's Hand into small cubes.

Place all of the citrus in a large, flat-bottom pan. Add
cold water until they are floating. Bring the pan to a boil. Drain. Add cold
water until they are floating and bring to a boil again. Drain. Repeat a third
time.

Then create a simple syrup by bringing the water and sugar
to a simmer and cooking till the syrup thickens. Place the citrus and simple
syrup in the flat-bottom pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until
the citrus is translucent and the syrup is thickened and sticking to the fruit.
Ours took about 90 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the citrus to a bowl full of
granulated sugar. Roll the citrus in the sugar. Lay out on a parchment-lined
cutting board and leave to dry.

Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Let bloom for 5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on medium speed
until well mixed.

With the mixer on low speed, add 2 C of the flour and the
salt and mix for 5 minutes. With the mixer still on low, add the remainder of
the flour and mix for 5 more minutes.

Gently incorporate the raisins with a spatula. Then scrape the dough into a large oiled bowl. Cover with plastic
wrap and refrigerate overnight.

After the first overnight rise, we were ready for the second rise. Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 1 hour. With a spatula, fold 1 C of diced candied citrus into the
dough. It will deflate slightly. Don't worry. It'll rise for
another 8-9 hours again. Back in the fridge!

Step Three...The Baking and the Hanging

After the second rise, let the dough come to room
temperature for at least an hour. Use a spatula to fold 20 tablespoons of
softened butter into the dough. Divide the dough into three pieces. For them into rounds.

Place the dough into the parchment panettone liners. Let the dough rise - for the third time - at room
temperature for 3 hours. During the last 20 minutes of the rise, preheat the oven to
375 degrees F. Once the oven is heated, place the breads in the lower half of the
oven. Bake for 50-55 minutes...until the breads are golden and
sound hollow when tapped.

After the panettone is baked, it needs to hang. Yes, hang.
Upside down. So that it doesn't compress as it cools. I stuck it with skewers
and balanced them on cardboard boxes.

In an effort to make all of my holiday gifts this year, we are sharing recipes for hand-crafted edibles. Over the course of twelve weeks, we'll be sharing recipes that you can make at home to give to friends and loved ones, or things to serve at holiday parties. We hope you'll follow along for inspiration. You can find out more information, including the schedule: here.

This week, we are letting out our inner chocolatiers shine, sharing all sorts of recipes with chocolate.

I used dark chocolate, folded in some saffron threads and spiked it with Liquore Strega, a saffron liqueur from Italy. O dio! If you're unfamiliar with Strega: click to read more.Ingredients

3-1/4 C 72% cacao chocolate, chopped

2 C organic heavy cream

1 pinch of saffron threads

3 T butter, softened

2 T Liquore Strega

Procedure
Place chopped chocolate, saffron threads, and Strega in a large mixing bowl. In a medium saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Pour boiling cream over the chocolate. Let sit for three minutes, then whisk until smooth. Stir in butter.

Refrigerate until firm - at least two hours. I left mine overnight.

Line a cookie sheet or tray with parchment paper or foil.

With a tablespoon or tablespoon scoop, scoop chilled truffle ganache from your bowl and place on the lined tray.

Refrigerate for a minimum of 15 minutes. (I let them chill for about 30 minutes.)

For chocolate-dipped truffles...how to temper chocolate...
Place half of your chipped chocolate (I didn't measure, but you can just repeat the process if you run out of chocolate) in a double-boiler and, over low heat, warm until melted. Remove from heat and stir in the other half of the chocolate. Set aside until the chocolate begins to lose its shine; it's beginning to crystallize. Then, return the chocolate to the double-boiler and warm, over very low heat, until smooth and glossy.

Dip chilled truffles in the melted chocolate, one at a time. You may use a candy dipping tool, but I just use a two-toothpick combo. Dip the truffle quickly into the melted chocolate and shake off the excess. Place on the parchment-lined tray and use another toothpick to nudge the truffle off of the toothpick. Dip the toothpick back into the melted chocolate and use a dab of chocolate to cover up any imperfections.

Serve with a cordial of Strega for that extra saffron goodness! Cin cin.

This was our second sherbet for our literary Thanksgiving...and was part of my "The Adventures of Sherbet Holmes" dessert.

Ingredients

2 C milk

2 C heavy cream

1/2 C raspberry puree

1 T ginger syrup

3" piece of lemon grass, trimmed and quartered

4 fresh basil leaves

4 egg yolks

1 C organic granulated sugar

dry ice

Procedure

In a medium saucepan, bring the heavy cream, lemongrass, basil, and milk to a simmer. Add raspberry puree and ginger syrup and allow flavors to steep for at least 20 minutes over low heat. Strain out the lemongrass and basil before proceeding.

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until light yellow in color. Add half of the cream mixture into the egg to temper. Then add the yolk mixture into the cream mixture.

Over low heat, whisk the mixture until it thickens. Transfer to a cool metal bowl. Once cool, cover, and place in fridge and allow to for several hours.

.

When ready to serve, take the sherbet base out of the fridge. Add in chunks of dry ice with tongs and stir with a rubber (or wooden) spatula.

It will thicken to soft-serve ice cream consistency. If you wish it more solid, place it in the freezer. We served it soft on top of a quince crumble on Thanksgiving though the boys all thought this was better on my re-do apple crumble the following day.

Well, the time has come to share the posts. Our bloggers made quite a feast! I've divided up the posts by geography. We have Indian-inspired dishes from the first part of the movie, Fantastically French morsels from the middle part of the movie, and Fun Fusions from when Hassan comfortably blended his heritage with his chosen home at the end of the movie.This post will round-up the posts that were for both Food'N'Flix and Cook the Books and those that were for Food'N'Flix only. Deb will be posting the cross-over posts and the ones that were only for Cook the Books on the Cook the Books blog. Hope that's not too confusing.

Though the book bored her to tears and the movie totally lost her about half way through, Amy did find food inspiration in both and posted a cross-over post for both events. She writes "Happily enough for me, I was able to find food inspirations
in both the book and the movie. In both,
there is the opportunity to focus on French, Indian, or fusion cuisine. Since I recently tackled French with Classic
Croissants, I decided to push myself way out of my comfort zone and try my hand
at (probably not very authentic) Indian food."

Debra admits something she never thought she'd say: "I think I enjoyed the film more than the book."

She found the film more upbeat and joyous than the book and she was struck by the other worldly look of the scenery. Adding to the dreamlike timelessness was that Hassan’s unique and inherent culinary talent
almost borders on fantasy. She shared a spicy Indian dish that features some of her home-grown sweet potatoes.

She writes that Hassan's passion for French haute cuisine combine with his mysteriously talent to combine the two cultures. Terri opted for a simple but classic French vegetable preparation of asparagus and bacon, inspired by this cookbook: Around My French Table.

Wendy gushes: "I loved this movie and can't believe I had never even heard
of it.It is one of those movies that I
wouldn't mind watching over and over again.And the food!The entire movie is
a feast for the eyes. I was overwhelmed and wanted to make everything!!" She decided on a fusion of flavors and made an Indian Spiced Beef Bordeaux.

Evelyne fused together both Indian and French flavors. She shares: "I wanted the French side of my recipe to represent a nearby
culinary tradition. Canelés are best know as sweet confections that are baked
in a special mold called canelé, which means fluted. They are know for a dark
golden crisp exterior. These are called canelé bordelais as they come from the
region of Bordeaux, which is next to the Midi-Pyrénées."

Her Carrot Curry Canelés are a perfect savory treat, combining flavors of
vegetables and perfumed Indian spices in a completely French package. And they inspired me to order some canelé molds. Fingers crossed mine look as tasty as these.

As a nod to Hassan's confidence and talent,Heather shared an omelette inspired by The Hundred-Foot Journey. Her description had me drooling on my keyboard: "Studded generously
with bits of shallot, chile pepper, cilantro and tomato, and laced with the
essence of garam masala, it is a pleasant assault on the senses. After one
bite, I decided that I wanted to eat my omelette's this way all the time. I
wish I'd known how well eggs and garam masala go together before now!" I can't wait to try her recipe.

My co-hostess for this double feature also preferred the movie to the book. And about her culinary creations, she posts: "For a somewhat loosely-inspired dish, based mainly on shortening the distance between the French & Indian cuisines featured, I decided to take a French classic soup that I happen to love, Potage Parmentier (potato leek soup), using a Jacques Pépin recipe and then bring some Indian-inspired flavor to the dish by topping my soup with some curried naan bread croutons and a pleasantly-spicy pistou (or pesto) of cilantro and cashews."

I was foiled in getting sea urchin. My Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf and I wanted to re-make D's Spiced Coconut-Sea Urchin Soup that he made when we first saw this movie a year ago. But, there was no sea urchin to be had anywhere locally. So, we made a riff on that soup with another Southeast Asian
inspiration: Kaffir limes. Do you know what a Kaffir lime is? It looks like a
little green brain and tastes like a mix of a lime and lemongrass.

Looking Ahead

Next month, Kimberly of Coffee and Casseroles will be hosting with The Jane Austen Book Club. Keep an eye out for her invitation. I do not think I've ever seen that movie. Fun!

*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.

Between Halloween and Epiphany, we receive a lot of invitations for dinner parties, birthday parties, cocktail parties, and cookie decorating parties. A lot of parties. If there's a theme to be had, someone I know is throwing a party about it.

My default hostess gift is a nice bottle of wine, but I always think they might feel obligated to open the bottle to share right then. It seems a little self-serving, as if to say - "Here, I brought you something, now uncork this baby and let me have a glass."

When I was asked to review the Woodbridge Harvest Wine Set, I thought, "Eureka! This is a hostess gift that they can enjoy long after all the guests have gone and the dishes are put away." And, if you like, you can still include a bottle of wine!

photo courtesy Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi

The Woodbridge Harvest Wine Set is a limited-edition kitchen set that includes an apron, pot holder and wine tote. Even better, all of the proceeds benefit AmpleHarvest.org, a
charity fighting hunger in America by providing fresh food to
those in need.

The kitchen set is ideal for holiday entertaining, serving as the perfect hostess gift with some longevity. The set is available
on Amazon.com from now through the end of the year, the Woodbridge Harvest
Wine set is a gift with heart.

photo courtesy Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi

I received a set to review and was delighted with the quality of the fabric, thickness of the oven mits, and - yes, I am actually going to say it - it's cute! But it's not too cute that a man wouldn't wear it. Adorable and useful. That fits my criteria for being in my kitchen! I've already ordered another set to give to my mom when she and my dad host Christmas for the big extended family.

The Giveaway

I'm giving away two Woodbridge Harvest Wine Sets. Please note that wine is not included in the prize. Good luck!

The giveaway runs from November 30th through December 7th.
Winner will be notified on December 7th and have 24 hours to respond with
shipping information or an alternate winner will be chosen. This giveaway is
open to U.S. residents, age 18 & up only. All entries for the winner
will be checked and verified. The number of entries received determines the
odds of winning. Two winners will be selected. The prize packages will be sent
directly from the giveaway sponsor. I am not responsible for the fulfillment or
delivery of the prize packages. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by
law.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

The Secret Recipe Club has a relatively new - fifth Monday - event that blurs the lines between the groups. You can be assigned to any other participating blogger in groups A through D. Naturally, I jumped right in.

Our theme this month: Holiday Treats. I was assigned to Tara's Multicultural Table, a blog written by Tara. I was so excited to explore her blog more. We've crossed paths before. She's taken part in different recipe round-ups I've hosted. And, most recently, she organized a virtual baby shower for another blogging friend - Lauren of Sew You Think You Can Cook - and I was reminded about the warmth of the blogging community.

So, into her blog I delved. Though I did get sidetracked by her recipes by location in the world, I stayed mostly in her desserts category. I considered her Vanillekipferl (Austrian Vanilla Crescent Cookies), Raivas (Portuguese Cinnamon Cookies), and Ka’ak b’sukar (Syrian Sugar Cookies).

But in the end, I decided to try her Shrikhand (Indian Yogurt Pudding with Saffron, Cardamom, and
Toasted Nuts) because I am auditioning recipes for a themed dinner in December. This was the perfect dessert - not too complicated and easy to do ahead of time. I made a few adaptations, reducing the sugar and adding a few more spices, but the idea was the same. And it was a hit!

In a small saucepan, combine the milk and saffron over low
heat just until just warmed. Remove from
heat, cover, and allow to steep for 60 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk in sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice. Add the saffron-steeped milk, until you get a distinct saffron flavor. I used it all though Tara used only about a teaspoon.

Cover the yogurt and refrigerate for up to 1
day.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place coconut, almonds, and pistachios on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Toast toppings for 5 to 7 minutes, until fragrant.

For a family who has no real culinary traditions for Thanksgiving, save our adventurous tradition, quail seems to make its way to our table almost every year. Done a different way each year, of course.

So, this year, in line with my page to plate Thanksgiving theme, I served 'tequila mockingbird'. You know...after To Kill a Mockingbird.

My Thai-Kissed Cookie
When I was trying to decide on a cookie to share, I decided to go waaaayyy off the deep end and find inspiration in one of our family favorite savory dishes: Pad Thai. Pad Thai has all these great flavors - peanuts, ginger, coconut, lime and basil. So, I wrapped all those flavors into a cookie. Sort of. I took some liberties, trading peanut for almonds. And I added in my current culinary obsession: Kaffir limes. Click to read more about Kaffir limes. It's that brain-looking lime in the photo.

Ingredients

Cookie

1/2 C butter

1/2 C organic granulated sugar

1/2 C organic dark brown sugar

1/2 C nut butter (I used a raw almond butter)

1 large egg

2 t Kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced

2 t Kaffir lime zest

2 t ground ginger

1/3 C shredded unsweetened dried coconut

1-1/4 C flour

1 t baking powder

Glaze and Garnish

1 C organic powdered sugar

2 T milk

1 t lime zest (I used a Kaffir lime, use whatever lime you have)

5 to 6 basil leaves, chiffonaded

Procedure

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare your baking sheets, lining them with parchment or a silicone liner. I have just discovered the magic of Silpat-style sheets. I know, I'm behind the baking curve.

Beat together the butter and sugars until lightened and creamy. Add in the nut butter and egg. Beat until well-combined. Add in the lime leaves, lime zest, ginger, flour, shredded coconut, and baking powder.

Press mixture together with a spatula until it comes together into a ball. Shape dough into 1" balls and place on prepared baking sheets.

Flatten each cookie with the tines of a fork in a criss-cross pattern.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool
completely.

While cookies cool, make the glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and lime juice until smooth. Add more sugar if too thin, more milk if too thick.

To finish, ice each cookie with a dollop of icing and
garnish with a few thin strips of basil leaves.

Join our special #SundaySupper #Cookielicious conversation on Tuesday, December 1st! Our chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #Cookielicious hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat.

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Just about any occasion sends me to the kitchen to create. My pots and pans are my culinary canvas. I cook dinners for friends' birthdays, for holidays, and three times a day for my family.

My hope is that my descriptions and photos will inspire you to get out to the farmers markets or down an aisle at the grocery store that intimidates you, try some new ingredients, and get crazy with the herbs and spices! Buon appetito!

All the recipes and photos on my blog are original, unless otherwise noted, and are provided for your enjoyment and use. If you do use any of the content of this blog in yours, I ask that you acknowledge the source. Thank you.